Trivikrama Temple

The Trivikrama Temple, also named Ter Temple, is a temple of Vamana (an incarnation of Vishnu) in Ter, Maharashtra. Henry Cousens, followed by most later writers, believed that it was originally a Buddhist temple, however in 1957 M. S. Mate disputed this view.^[1]

The temple is original in that it was initially based on a free-standing apsidal structure, now located at the back of the building, which is characteristic of early Buddhist apsidal caityagriha designs.^[2] The apsidal structure seems to be contemporary to the great apsidal temple found in Sirkap, Taxila, which is dated to 30 BCE-50 CE.^[2] It would have been built under the Satavahanas, in the 2nd or 3rd century CE.^[3]

The external flat-roofed mandapa structure is probably only an addition from the 6th century CE, when the temple was converted into a Hindu temple.^[2] A stone image of Trivikrama probably dates to the early Chalukyas.^[3]

The front of the apsidal temple is decorated with a chaitya-arch, similar to those found in Buddhist rock-cut architecture.^[2]

Another known Hindu temple constructed in a Chaitya-style, is the Pallava period Kapoteswara temple at Chezarla in Guntur district. The legend behind the deity Kapoteswara is the story of Sibi in Mahabharata which also occurs in Sibi Jataka^[4]

The Trivikrama Temple is considered as the oldest standing structure in Maharashtra.^[3]

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